The present invention relates to incorporation of substances into meat, including incorporation, particularly, of meat trimmings into meat.
Meat trimmings are obtained by removal from meat during the standard preparation of whole cuts of meat in the meat industry. The trimmings are usually, but not always, of low quality and usually contain some fat (about 10-12% by weight) and some muscle tissue. It is possible, by using technology introduced onto the market in recent years, to incorporate suspensions made of meat trimmings into whole cuts of like meat to increase the weight using a multi-needle injector. By controlling parameters such as the amount of trimmings injected, the meat/fat ratio and the quality of the meat, this technology enables the production of cooked ham or marinated meat products without affecting the standard quality with regard to flavour or shelf-life and without visibility of the suspension, and a way to improve binding and yield is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,599. The cost saving of injecting trimmings is considerable when the trimmings are of low value compared to whole cuts of meat.
In order to impart a specificity to the flavour and to improve microbiological stability, it has been proposed to ferment raw meat by using a starter culture in a brine or marinade prior to cooking to produce bacteriocins. However, since the raw meat can under no circumstances be allowed to ferment at a temperature higher than about +8.degree. C. prior to cooking, the biggest problem is to find a starter culture that can produce bacteriocins and a specific flavour at low temperature. We have tested some commercially available cultures, but the effect on the final quality of the product regarding flavour and microbiological stability is minimal. In addition, the production time before the cooking step must be prolonged considerably.
As described in European Patent 0,770,336, it was found that by applying a fermentation step with a starter culture in the meat trimmings prior to incorporation into meat, it was possible to adapt the fermentation parameters such as temperature, time, humidity and ingredients, etc., to their optimal values. As described in that application there is provided a process for preparing meat containing meat trimmings therein which comprises incorporating a frozen suspension of meat trimmings in a brine, marinate or pickle into chilled meat characterised in that before freezing, the meat trimmings are fermented with a starter culture.